


Castiel's Freedom

by aievans



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:58:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6120085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aievans/pseuds/aievans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Destiel One-Shot <br/>It takes place after 11.15 (Beyond the Mat).  Beware of season 11 spoilers.<br/>Dean struggles to get Castiel back, but to free him from Lucifer he must admit to himself something he doesn't want to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Castiel's Freedom

Takes place after: season 11, episode 15 – Beyond the Mat

They had to be grateful for Crowley. Shortly after the former King of Hell had escaped Lucifer’s grasp, he had tracked down the Winchester brothers. After they made it clear that killing Lucifer was not an option for Castiel’s sake, Crowley promised to help them find the Devil.  
Dean and Sam had the dungeon in the bunker set up. Angel wardings were put around the walls of the room and holy oil was placed around the edges of the devil’s trap to be used once Lucifer was in there. That was the first step. The second was what to do once Lucifer was there. Crowley had confirmed what Sam feared and what Dean didn’t want to admit to himself – Castiel was far gone. The chances of him ejecting Lucifer by himself were small, which meant that they needed a second option – an option that Crowley brought up.  
“One of you need to go inside his brain,” Crowley said while sitting at a diner a few towns over from the bunker, as (much to Crowley’s disappointment) the brother’s would not show the demon where the bunker was located.   
Both brothers were shocked at the idea, but Dean was willing to listen. He was at the point where he was willing to do anything to get his angel back.  
“There’s a spell that would allow you to enter Castiel’s brain for only a short period of time – five minutes at the most,” Crowley explained. “It’s not simple though, and I would need to be present to do it.”  
That settled it. The set up was moved to a warehouse. Once again the angel wardings were put up and a circle of holy oil was drawn around a chair.   
How they got Lucifer was unimportant in the long run. The plan involved tricks and deception. Either way, the capture the devil and chained him to the chair in the warehouse. Once Dean was positioned, Sam set the holy oil on fire, trapping Dean and the devil within the circle.  
“You won’t win, Dean. He’s far too gone for you to reach him. I don’t even know if he’s conscious at the moment,” Lucifer said, a smirk pulling on the face that belonged to Castiel.   
“Shut up,” Dean spat. “Do it Crowley.”  
Dean collapsed once the spell was preformed, but he was unaware. His mind was transported into Castiel’s inside of Lucifer’s. He looked around carefully. He was standing in the middle of a garden filled with flowers of all kinds. Bees buzzed around and the sky was a fairytale blue. And there was Castiel – sitting in the middle of a patch of flowers. His head rose when he noticed the disturbance in his dream, his blue eyes widening as they fell on Dean. He stumbled to his feet, moving toward the hunter.  
“Dean how ..”  
“That doesn’t matter, Cas. I only have a few minutes,” Dean said, finishing the distance between the two of them with a few steps. They now stood only feet apart. Dean’s green eyes searched over Castiel’s face.   
“Why, Cas? Why did you do this to yourself? Why did you say yes – to Lucifer!” Dean said, pain filling his expression. Why had his angel said yes to the devil?  
Castiel shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. “I wanted to be of some use. The only person who could defeat Amara – who had a chance at it – was Lucifer. Sam and you – you wouldn’t say yes, and you shouldn’t have. So I did,” Castiel said.  
“Cas – we didn’t need Lucifer. We don’t need him. What happened to us? We’re the ones who stopped the apocalypses, who brought down the Leviathan. Why weren’t the three of us enough?”  
“You and Sam did all of that, Dean. I was only a tool, used when you two had no other cards to pull. I’m expendable Dean. You two – you’re not.”  
Dean’s heart shattered in that moment. His face, if in pain before, was distraught.   
“Cas – how could you ever think …”  
Dean stopped himself as the scene changed around them. Castiel shifted, embarrassed at how easily his mind turned back to memories. Dean watched like a fly on the wall as times passed before him. Him telling Castiel that no one cared that he was broken, telling Castiel to leave the bunker when Gadreel was helping Sam, telling Castiel that he wasn’t a good hunter. Then there were the hunts, the hunts that had been messed up because Castiel had fumbled and made a mistake, the hunts where one of the three of them almost died because of a mistake Castiel made. Castiel being alone in the bunker after Rowena’s curse was lifted, scared to ever leave the safe haven he’d found, but also scared of being alone.   
“Cas stop!”   
The memories stopped and the scene flipped back to the garden. Castiel wouldn’t meet Dean’s eyes; he looked anywhere but the hunter. Dean closed the distance between them. His hand was under Castiel’s chin, turning the angel’s head until the two locked gazes.   
“Castiel, listen to me,” Dean said. “I’m the one that messed up.”  
Dean stopped, clearly struggling with the words. His heart was in pieces, his hope decimated. He was the one who had made Castiel feel like this, he was the one who had driven Castiel away.   
“Cas, don’t ever think that you’re ‘expendable’ or a tool. You are much more than that. Cas, I …” Dean stopped again. “I’m so sorry, Cas. I never meant to make you feel that way. You’re family, Cas. You’re the most important thing to me …”  
Dean was rambling. Pieces were falling together in his mind. The connection with Amara had never felt right, and it went deeper than the fact that she was evil. Something had always been off. Dean knew it was more of her messing with his mind than his heart, but now he knew why it was so. His heart was long gone. Why hadn’t he seen it before? Had it been his constant denial of attraction? It wasn’t like his father had ever been the most open growing up. He never liked to think about that one time he was ‘experimenting’.  
No. It was more than that. It was more than an attraction, it was more than even what he had felt toward Lisa or Cassie Robinson. Why hadn’t he seen it before?  
“Cas, I need you buddy,” Dean said, his hand still under Castiel’s chin. “I need you to expel Lucifer. I need my angel back.”  
“You only have thirty seconds left Dean,” Castiel said, sounding unconvinced. Dean could still see it in his eyes. Castiel wasn’t convinced.   
Thirty. Twenty Nine. Twenty Eight.  
Dean told himself to suck it up and stop being scared. There was no one around to be scared of any more.  
Twenty. Nineteen.  
Dean moved forward suddenly, shocking Castiel as his lips landed on the angels. Dean pulled Castiel closer, trying to show him the words he couldn’t express.  
Fifteen. Fourteen.  
Castiel was kissing back, finding the encouragement he needed, the strength he needed, to cast Lucifer out.  
Ten. Nine.  
Castiel pulled away, fear falling in his blue eyes.   
“Dean, I’m barely an angel. I’m no use …”  
“Cas, I need you. Angel or not, I need you.”  
Five. Four.  
“Cas, I need you to promise me that you’ll eject Lucifer. Promise me that I’ll have you back. We can take down Amara by ourselves.”  
“Dean I …”  
It was too late for Dean to hear Castiel’s response. He gasped for breath as he sat up on the hard warehouse floor. He turned, not bothering to stand completely as his eyes focused on Castiel – or rather the vessel. The vessel was shaking as though it were having a seizure.   
“Cas!” Dean said, holding the limp head in his hands. “Cas, please.” His voice cracked as he spoke, tears beginning to form in his eyes. The body went limp. Then a bright light shot out of it. It looked like a normal angel, except black plagued the edges of the light blue wisps. The head that Dean was holding began to lift, blue eyes opening to look at the hunter.   
“Cas?”  
“Dean,” Castiel said. “It’s me, Dean.”  
Arms were around the angel’s neck, the hunter’s head resting on top of the angel’s. Sam stood, putting out the holy fire and scratching at the wardings before leaving the two alone, Crowley close on his tail.   
“Dean,” Castiel said once the two of them were alone. “Did you mean what you said – was that really you?”  
“I meant every word, Cas.”  
Castiel tried to stand, stumbling as he did. Dean moved quickly, catching the weakened angel. Dean helped the angel back to the bunker, back to home. He got Castiel to his room, piling blankets over him and constantly making him soup and coffee – despite the fact that Castiel insisted that he didn’t need it. Dean rarely left Castiel’s side. He’d bring in his computer to research or to watch for Amara or Lucifer sightings, but he didn’t go on hunts. He wasn’t going to make the mistake of leaving Castiel again. He wasn’t going to lose his angel again.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little drabble I wanted to write about how I think the ending of Castiel!Lucifer should go down.


End file.
